...As Americans, one may say that our biggest fear is the doctor’s office and the health care system. This is an appropriate statement due to the fact that a majority of Americans are health illiterate. So, what does it mean to be health literate? Health.gov definition on health literacy is as follows: Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (1). The To give a perspective of how health illiterate Americans are almost nine out of ten Americans are considered to have Intermediate, Basic, or Below Basic health literacy (2). Why is this number so high? Is it because health information that is provided...
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...The Benefits of Literacy In Germany and The United States of America Germany and the United States of America (USA) share common thoughts on the significance of a well rounded literacy education. Their approaches toward students’ gaining a literacy education are singular. Both countries are discovering the importance of the relationships between an early childhood education and a literacy education. Struggles are happening within each countries education system with the rise in population of Immigrants and poverty. Learning literacy skills to read symbols, numbers, alphabets, and words are necessary for individuals to live in any society. As you read further, you will learn of the importance and difficulties of attaining a literacy education for both Germany and the United States of America early childhood students. Every child that is born learns the first skills of literacy from their caregiver or parent. Children learn to speak by watching the adults around them. Miller (2007) believes these actions are part of cultural learning. (p. 18) Young infants are learning most of their behaviors unconsciously. Albert Bandura (cited in Boyd & Bee, 2006) defines the observation done by infants and children as observation learning or modeling. (p. 31) The first skills that are learned by children at home are the most important skills that help them become great students in the classroom. Literacy skills are not formed in the same manner as speaking. One does not learn to...
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...Literacy, How It Effects Our Children’s Lives Janice Barstow Eng.122 English Composition 2 Professor Quiana McCoy-Taylor February 18, 2013 Literacy, How It Effects Our Children’s Lives What is literacy? The definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: The quality and state being of literate, able to read and write. In the 19th century, anyone who could sign his or her name was considered literate; now, educators define literacy as the ability to read and write at a ninth grade level (Mayshark, 1994). Experts are now expanding their notion of what literacy is and how we need to include technology use, parental involvement, and economics. Without technology children will fall behind in today’s world, parental involvement means to have the parent there in the moment to help their children understand and succeed, and economics is what today is all about and how our children will succeed in life with good paying jobs to take care of their families. Without these three factors children in the 21st century will not succeed effectively in school or out. In today’s technology, school teachers now have to be educated to keep up with the knowledge and techniques of the 21st century. Teachers need to be well developed in computer technology to help with succeeding in writing and reading literacy. The value of educational time spent on using technology to support students' literacy development rests on its ability to promote higher level thinking, collaboration, constructivism...
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...Essay #1, First Draft English February 12, 2013 Literacy is About Communication, Not Group Loyalty After reading the articles by Stephanie Roach, James Paul Gee, and Lisa Delpit, I find myself agreeing very strongly with Delpit. Roach and Gee both imply that trying to teach a standard type of literacy might be violating the special cultural qualities of poor students and students of color. It’s true that the United States of America is made up of many ethnic and racial groups, and many of them have special ways of thinking and expressing themselves. But the key to success in this country is learning standard literacy, which is common to everybody. You really can’t succeed in America if you don’t first master this common language that we all share. The simple question raised in the famous Newsweek cover article in 1975, “Why Johnny Can’t Write,” was: Are American children learning to write, and if not, where is the problem? This is a simple question, and it cannot be avoided, as Roach does, by accusing the author of that article, Merrill Sheils, of trying to alarm people about something that she doesn’t really prove, using the few examples of bad writing she has in the article. The fact is that American school children don’t write very well, and Roach knows that. Thousands of studies and journal articles since 1975 have confirmed this sad fact. Roach cannot avoid this reality by agreeing with Humpty Dumpty that “words can mean whatever Humpty wants them to mean...
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...November 12, 2013 The Decline in Literacy The decline of literacy has been something that has changed over time. Words used in the past may not show up in today’s vocabulary. Historical events will impact the writings and the verbal words during that time. Literacy will change according to time eras and with what is going on during that time. Through history the way people spoke to one another and the way they wrote has changed. During the civil war era, people wrote differently. They used a different assortment of words. People back then had a diverse vocabulary that people today do not use. The language and literacy has been molded as each decade past. Events in history have impacted the way people speak and write to one another. During the 50s America was coming off of the Great Depression. Times were pretty great, it seemed like there was an abundance of money. People were living the American Dream. This was the era of the movie “Grease”, with John Travolta. People had their clicks like they do today but each click resembled a gang. People had different words that meant the same thing, for example the word ‘chick’ was used in place of girl. The word ‘bread’ is not the eatable cooked wheat, it actually meant money in the 1950s. In the 1960s, during the decade of the hippies, the meanings of some words changed. When someone said ‘that’s boss’, it meant something that was the best of or something that was great. During the 1960s America was in Vietnam fighting against...
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...America’s Problems: Immigration and Education As a young college students, living in the United States of America, my country’s problems are really important to me. America is facing many issues nowadays, many of which we don’t think about right away. Immigration is one of the problems, both sides probably agree that how to deal with them is a major question in politics at the moment, although some see this as a bigger problem than others do. United States education is facing many issues also, one of which is decline in cultural literacy. United States of America are one of the most diversified countries in the world, this is caused by immigration. Immigration has been both a boon and a curse for the United States. The country has seen its rich culture and civilization being shaped out by talented, ambitious, and hard-working people from around the world, which great example are Bharati Mukherjee and her sister Mira. In Mukherjee’s essay “Two Ways to Belong in America”, she describes “I need to put roots down, to vote and make the difference that I can”. Bharati Mukherjee is one of many immigrants that canto this country to develop and to give it back to society. She also faced many struggles because she was an immigrant, like proposal in Congress to deny government benefits for non-citizens. Although she wrote her essay more than 15 years ago the problems are still the same. Legislation have problem with illegal immigrants and they are mixing them with those that are in this...
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...Constructing Meaning through Critical Literacy Keona Shorter Grand Canyon University: EED-475 Curriculum, Methods, and Assessment: Reading April 17, 2016 The Poem I, Too, by Langston Hughes, is a literary classic. It illustrates the societal struggles America has been through and reflects a common perception about a class of people in that day. Students can use this poem to learn about social issues and societal norms of 1925 while also developing an opinion about how to treat other people in everyday life. Middle school students have the mental capacity to understand conflicts and racial indiscretion. These activities can help the students to create a resolution in common problems they may face in life as well. Langston Hughes, "I Too" is a Common Core reading from Appendix B. “Hughes, Langston. “I, Too, Sing America.” The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Knopf, 1994. (1925)” (Common Core, 2016). —From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, edited by Arnold Rampersad (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), p. 46. Platform Strategy | Activity | Reading Supplementary Texts"Practitioners can use lyrics from popular music as supplementary texts to engage students in a discussion about race, gender, religion, politics, etc." (UNC- Chapel Hill School of Education, 2016). Using accessible supplementary materials will help to open the understanding of the students and provide then with a more analytical perspective of the poem. The song is essentially a...
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...Poor health literacy is a “silent epidemic” that challenges the functioning of the healthcare system. Low health literacy levels are associated with higher risks of hospitalization, inability to manage health conditions, poor health outcomes, and inability to seek proper treatment and understand options available (Palumbo, 2015). Those with inadequate health literacy are more likely to be poor and uninsured (Levy & Janke, 2016). According to a study done by Pati et al. (2010) concerning maternal health literacy, children whose mothers had poor health literacy were much less likely to participate in welfare programs they were eligible for. 12.7% of people in the United States are living in poverty (Semega, Fontenot, & Kollar, 2017), yet those...
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...July to a Negro.” He emphasizes this by using education as the key to the path of freedom. Knowledge has liberated those who have been oppressed by slavery. Nelson Mandela, a famous civil rights activist and the first South African president, once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world.” (Mandela, 1993). Both were subjugated by societies filled with abusive racism. Douglass used education as a weapon to guide him to his independence. Through knowledge, Douglass ascended to be as educated as a white man. By insisting on his credibility, appealing to his readers’ emotions, and making logical arguments against his oppressor, Douglass communicates that literacy is a tool used to overcome the oppression of slavery. This is significant because literacy broadened the perspective of slaves, which enabled them to prevail against inhumane conditions. As a former slave, Douglass emphasizes reliability by talking about his experience as a slave to show how slaveholders would prevent them from knowledge. He realized his life had been molded into an abrupt distorted lie created by the most wicked of men by stating, “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!” (Douglass 105). This is when he realizes that no one is born a slave; instead, one is forced into believing...
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...Health Literacy in the Physician Practice By: Pauline Jakubiec, M.S., CPHRM Risk Management Consultant |Risk Advisory Solutions Health literacy is an important consideration according to the National Assessment for Adult Literacy when only 12% of adults are competent in health literacy. Nearly 9 out of 10 adults may lack the skills needed to manage their health and prevent disease. 14% of adults (30 million people) have below basic health literacy. 42% of these adults were more likely to report their health as poor. 28% were more likely to lack health insurance which now places them in the system (and in the office) than adults with proficient health literacy (Adult Literacy in America: A First Look at the Results of the National Adult...
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...media Donald Mabesoone HUM/186 January 26, 2016 University Of Phoenix Effects of mass media In todays’ society the first thing people do when they wake up is to check their cell phones and other technologies. (I.E. IPad, tablets, lab tops) Throughout history the media has taken a hold over the everyday lives of people, society seeks answers through the media to assist in developing our own opinions which could affect us as a society and as individuals Society today uses the media to decide their political and economic views or even to plan a simple trip. Over the turn of the century the media has a multitude of developments which has and will continue to have an effect on the American culture. What is media convergence and media literacy, how will it affect our lives and society as a whole? What were the major developments in Mass Media over the last century? Magazines and newspaper were the main sources of mass media in the early 1900’s. Then in 1940 the radio began a new source for obtaining news. Even though newspapers were still in demand the radio was a convenient way to obtain accounts of the war. Television was a blend of the daily newspaper and the radio and people embellished it. Then in 1962 the satellite was launched and gave people access to worldwide news. From then to now inventions of communicating have broadened. Now there are mobile phones, computers and the internet, and the process just keeps growing. The way children learn in...
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...America SCORES inspires urban youth to lead healthy lives, be engaged students, and have the confidence and character to make a difference in the world. America SCORES LA (known locally as LA SCORES) was founded in 2002 to address the need for quality after-school programs in the Palms area, one of Los Angeles’ socio-economically under-resourced communities. LA SCORES provides a safe after-school alternative in an area where youth centers, libraries and parks are noticeably absent. Our overall goal is to cultivate the literacy and leadership skills that enable urban youth to excel in school and in life. The comprehensive poetry, community service, and soccer curriculum we have created to achieve this goal serves over 400 students. LA SCORES is an independent affiliate of America SCORES, a national organization founded in 1994 by a Teach for America teacher serving in Washington D.C. We are structured as a local grassroots organization, responsible for securing funding to operate our program. After launching at two elementary schools in the fall of 2002, LA SCORES has grown steadily over the past nine years. Today we operate five days a week, between 2:30-6:00 p.m., in collaboration with Charnock Road, Braddock and Palms Elementary Schools as well as Palms Middle School of the Los Angeles Unified School District. In FY 2011, a total of 400 student athletes in grades K-12 (including high school alumni) participate in LA SCORES led by a staff of 30 afterschool coaches. Coaches...
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...It's no secret that state budgets are tight, and courses not seen as core are more likely to be cut than added.”(Document A) Programs like financial literacy are put onto the backburner because compared to college required courses that if completed have a direct effect on the student are put into first priority, nevertheless financial literacy is very important. That's why programs that have just in time education will be able to help the student more than just taking a class. “... the high school students who took a semester- long personal-finance course and(they) tested worst than those who didn’t. Or the graduates of retirement-planning classes who thought their literacy had increased, when their financial test scores had not.” (Document B) With just in time education the students will be given help when they need it. School holds an abundance of kids who just do it for the grade, slack off, or just don't really care at all, but with the introduction of just in time education students will be able to have a safe place to get good advice just when they need it. Students will retain more because it will encompass all the things that they need for their...
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...The Literacy of Soccer “Wake Up, America: Here's Why Soccer Is The World's Best Sport.” This is a title of an article about soccer’s influence, which explain the importance of knowing and playing soccer. As everyone knows, soccer is definitely unpopular in the United State. Compared to soccer, local Americans prefer to focus on football, baseball, and basketball. According to a set official data on a magazine about Americans’ favorite sports, the ranking of soccer is around seventy, which is fall behind dog sledding unexpectedly. Now, I have to stand out and announce the significant literacy of soccer because people could improve themselves by touching the philosophy of soccer. Many people regard soccer a kind of sport item and they ignore that the literacy of soccer had become a critical sponsorship when I was young. Actually, the literacy of soccer reflects not only physical training and violent aesthetics when I fight with my rivals, but also the deep value and perspective such as strategy, teamwork, and persistence, which is beneficial to my whole life experience. In order to achieve a goal and success especially over a long period of time, people must establish a series operative strategy which will be helpful to their destination. Just like plans and projects, it is necessary for human beings to make effective strategies because they could get more confidence to make decision in advance. It is why soccer teams need coaches to formulate different kinds of tactics to...
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...Unemployment Rate (%) | Inflation Rate (%) | Literacy Rate (%) | Balance of Trade ($) | Exchange Rate ( = $1) | Kenya | 44,037,656 | 1800 | 40% | 9.4 | 87.4 | (-)8.815 b | 84.53 | Morocco | 32,649,130 | 5400 | 9% | 1.2 | 56.1 | (-)20.65 b | 8.6087 | South Africa | 48,601,098 | 11600 | 22.70% | 5.7 | 86.4 | (-)4.3 b | 8.2031 | Algeria | 38,087,812 | 7600 | 10.2 | 8.9 | 69.9 | 23.54 b | 77.536 | Egypt | 85,294,388 | 6700 | 13.50% | 7.1 | 72 | (-)32.89 b | 6.6025 | Gabon | 1,640,286 | 16800 | 21% | 2.7 | 88.4 | 6.84 b | 510.53 | Sudan | 34,847,910 | 2600 | 20% | 31.9 | 61.1 | (-)1.627 b | 4.09 | Mauritius | 1,322,238 | 15800 | 8.10% | 3.9 | 88.5 | (-)2.433 b | 30.051 | Zimbabwe | 13,182,908 | 600 | 95% | 8.2 | 90.7 | (-)1.255 b | 234.25 | Ethiopia | 93,877,025 | 1200 | 17.5 | 7.1 | 42.9 | (-)6.389 b | 17.705 | Nigeria | 174,507,539 | 2800 | 23.90% | 12.2 | 61.3 | 37.56 m | 156.81 | Libya | 6,002,347 | 12300 | 30% | 6.1 | 89.2 | 34.04 b | 1.262 | South Sudan | 11,090,104 | 1000 | NA | 7 | 27 | | 0.7778 | NORTH AMERICA Countries | Population | GDP | Unemployment rate | Literacy Rate | Inflation Rate | Exchange Rate | BOT (billion) | Canada | 34,568,211 | 43,400 | 7.30% | 99% | 1.50% | 0.9992 CAD | -11.9 | Mexico | 116,220,947 | 15,600 | 5% | 86.10% | 4.10% | 13.17 MXN | 0.1 | USA | 316,668,567 | 50,700 | 8.10% | 99% | 2.10% | 1 USD | 2148.8 | EUROPE Countries | Population | GDP Per Capita/ PPP | Literacy rate (%) | Exchange rate per US dollar |...
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